Dyeing Monochrome
by JinxJen
Summary: A series of oneshots and drabbles about UlquiHime. Come and look how Orihime's color could be able to dye Ulquiorra's monochrome world into a rainbow world.
1. Resolution

Thanks for discovery this story!

And the fact that you found it was so amazing.

This newest story here is just a series of oneshots and drabbles I made randomly about UlquiHime.

It might be short. It might be long. It might even have a sequel depend on how you could see it.

So I may not update it frequently depend on how my inspiration comes.

Disclaimers: I do not own Bleach and their characters (definitely); they are all masterpieces from Kubo-sensei~

Some parts may sound weird in English; because I'm not an English Native one. Ha ha ha.

Spoiler: The story happened after chapter 353/354

In this story, I randomly used _italic word_ to describe the thought of the characters or maybe it just some strong feeling of characters I want to put in to that word.

* * *

**RESOLUTION**

Inoue Orihime was crying and desperately reaching her hand toward the Cuatro Espada who already disappeared from ash into nothing.

_"Why do you go off after saying something like that? I still haven't told you anything..."__**what I REALLY felt about you that I didn't hate you.**_

Orihime was sobbing. Her hand was grasping tightly but nothing in it. She couldn't even touch him the last time.

Kurosaki Ichigo and Ishida Uryuu saw that scene altogether. Sympathy and guilty mostly appeared on their faces.

Ichigo didn't want to ask anything about what his hollow had done after he had a hole in his chest. But because he was worried about Orihime, he took his courage to ask her.

"Inoue, what's your relationship with _him_?"

Ichigo tried hard to not say _his_ name because he was afraid that Orihime could react more despairing.

Surprisingly, Orihime replied his question with her most gentle expression that he had never seen before.

"The person named Aizen wanted to use my power to speed up Hougyoku's awaking, and he acted occurring to Aizen's order. He was the one who asked me to come with him or he would kill all of my friends."

Orihime looked at her right palm which was covered by ash and dust. Her eyes went as sad as her voice.

"Even though he always said harsh and cold words, he had never hurt me once. Even when I slapped him..."

Orihime stopped in the middle of her sentence, because she started to remember and realized something.

Her eyes were almost teary, while Ichigo and Ishida were in shock that they couldn't believe in their ears

_Slap him...?_ Both Ichigo and Ishida thought with unconvinced looks toward Orihime.

_Even if I used my Bankai and my mask, I couldn't even touch him. But you can... even slap his face?_

_And he did nothing to you after that?_

"When I came alone in Hueco Mundo, I was afraid whether my decision was right or wrong. But I found the answer and the resolve for my power that could stop the war in here. But when Grimmjow took me to heal Kurosaki-kun, my resolve started to scatter because I saw you get hurt and almost died because of me."

Ichigo remembered what Grimmjow said to him _"You don't know what's going on inside her."_

Because Ichigo thought he should be the one who protect everyone, but in fact, it was the opposite, he was being protected by everyone, by Orihime.

Orihime didn't sacrifice herself to save everyone. She also came to fight but using her different way to fight.

Ichigo realized that he was actually the immature one. It was him who didn't believe in her and treated her as a child.

Because of his desire to fight and to win, he discarded everyone's feeling and reason.

Now Ichigo understood why Ulquiorra kept on picking fight with him. Ulquiorra was just angry at his reason coming there to fight without knowing anything.

For the guy who was previously a machine the first time they met, Ulquiorra started to turn more into human when he interacted with Inoue.

Why did he have never figure out about Ulquiorra before? Didn't Ulquiorra keep on telling him to give up the sword many times? How foolish he was.

"When I found out that I was used as a bait to trap everyone in Hueco Mundo and was discarded by Aizen, he's the only one who asked me if I was afraid and didn't kill me even though he said he would kill me. Then I realized he's just a child, he might be expert in combat and logic, but he's a child in emotions. He didn't know anything about what he couldn't see and feel. At that time, I feel sad for him."

From Orihime's words, Ichigo and Ishida couldn't believe that she was talking about the same guy who had put a hole into other's chest and cut off other's arm.

Maybe only to Orihime, Ulquiorra became like that to the point that he even gently asked for her concern.

Ulquiorra was totally ignored others and refered them as inferior, yet he could act like that in front of Orihime. Also, the fact for Orihime to view him as child was already amazing itself.

While Ichigo and Ishida looked at each other with their compromise thought about Ulquiorra, Orihime was still talking and her voice started choking with tears.

"I really don't want any side to get hurt at all even if they are humans or hollows. Before I couldn't be able to save my brother, I made him sad and turned into a hollow. Now I couldn't do anything to help everyone. I was so useless. Did I really become a bad person?"

While Ichigo and Ishiga told her, "You're not a bad person, Inoue."

Orihime started to cry but she also quickly wiped her tear. Because she knew Ichigo and Ishida would worried about her more.

She then started using Shun Shun Rikka to heal Ishida's arm. Both Ishida and Ichigo were amazed because they never thought she could be able to do that. They only thought her power was healing wounds, not restoring a lost limb.

Ishida then asked Orihime about her power.

She stated, "My power is rejection of event" and then explained what Aizen said to her about her power.

"If it were not for Ulquiorra who came to abduct me, I would never know about my own power that I could be able to help you guys."

After she said out loud what she thought, she went on silent and kept healing Ishida's arm.

Ishida started his analysis and announced that if Orihime could use her power correctly, she would probably be the strongest one in the war.

After a long silent thought, Ichigo asked Orihime, "If your power is to reject the events, then could you be able to reject _his_ disappearance?"

Both Ishida and Orihime were shocked at what Ichigo just suggested.

"What are you saying, Kurosaki? Why do you want to revive him after he took all trouble to kill you?" Ishida said aggressively.

Ichigo stated his reason, "In the fight, he said because of the heart, it caused pain and death. When he put a hole in my chest, I lost my heart and died at that time. But my hollow form appeared and caused pain to my friends and probably death to him."

Ichigo lowered his face. There was anguish in his hoarse voice and his brown eyes.

"I threw my heart away and won, but when my heart came back to me, I really felt painful inside because I never want to do that. I just want to crush his resolve to let Inoue go, but I never want to kill him. I never want to do that. If I let him go off like that, I will never prove my words to him."

Ishida and Orihime kept listening Ichigo's reason patiently. Ishida shook his head because he couldn't win against Ichigo's fairness and stubbornness.

Besides, Ishida thought he understood Ichigo's feeling. He had tried to stop Ichigo's hollow form because he didn't want Ichigo throw away his humanity.

Ishida looked at Orihime as if saying _"I'm fine with that. How about you?"_

Orihime felt really complicated inside.

She, personally, was the one who wanted him back most. But she was worried what Ulquiorra would feel after he was brought back.

Moreover, now his body turned into ash and dissolved in the wind, she didn't even have a piece of his to revive him.

But then she suddenly remembered Hacchi's words that _"she could also be able to restore from nothingness."_

She saw Hacchi did that to Tsubaki but she wondered if she could do the same.

Orihime looked at Ichigo and Ishida, smiling.

"I'll will try."

Then suddenly a loud explosive sound like a BANG coming from below startled the gang, Ichigo intuitively went to the hole to take a peek inside the dome.

All he could see was Yammy as a giant monster starting to destroy inside Las Noches.

Ichigo revealed his worried face because Rukia, Renji and Chad were down there. Both Ishida and Orihime could see that.

"That Yammi guy turns into a really huge giant. Rukia, Renji and Chad are down there."

"Then Kurosaki-kun, please go and save them first."

Orihime said on reflex without hesitance. Then she suddenly realized that she no longer felt jealous at Rukia anymore and even hoped Ichigo could go save Rukia for her.

The reluctant feeling she had had been gone. What was the change of that?

She smiled and told Ishida and Ichigo could go first and save Kukichi-san and everyone.

She will stay behind to see if she could save Ulquiorra.

Ichigo didn't agree with her. He said that he would go alone and Ishida would stay with Orihime because he was afraid to let Orihime stay alone one more time. Or maybe Ichigo was afraid that he didn't know what Ulquiorra would do to Orihime alone after he was saved.

But Orihime was adamant in telling them that she could take care of herself. Because Orihime's sole attack, Tsubaki-kun, was once useless with this kind of opponent. The more people went to help, the better it could take a big giant like Yammy down…

In the end, Orihime convinced both of them going down first.

"Because if I could save Ulquiorra, he would help me go down by his wings, right? If not, I could use Shun Shun Rikka to go down by myself."

Both Ichigo and Ishida were surprised. Orihime was the same yet kind of different.

She changed.

Maybe it was her confidence in herself was changed, and…

the culprit for that change was not them but the one who was once thought as a heartless hollow.

* * *

**JinxJen's note:**

The main title of the new story "Dyeing Monochrome" was inspired by some parts of "Adventure In The Box"

If you have free time, I would like you go and read them.

This is actually the first oneshot fic that I have ever written about UlquiHime.

Also, I have to apologize for the writing because I'm not exactly very proficient in English.

Even if I tried to use GORGEOUS words, I fail miserably. I just keep thinking it would be better if I use simple and easy to understand words.


	2. Wish

Thanks for reading this story!

The second story was made during Tanabata. And just like the title suggest, I used Tanabata theme to write out this story.

It was just a conservation between two people. No need much for description or narration at all. Because I'm actually bad at them.

Disclaimers: I do not own Bleach and their characters (definitely); they are all masterpieces from Kubo-sensei~

In this story, I randomly used _italic word_ to describe the thought of the characters or maybe it just some strong feeling of characters I want to put in to that word.

**

* * *

**

**WISH**

Two beings were sitting side by side at the couch, one was a hollow, a Cuatro Espada to boots, and another was a helpless human girl.

Just like every night, they had a conversation to pass.

"Ne, Ulquiorra, do you know at my world they have a festival called Tanabata?"

"Hm!?" Ulquiorra was humming to answer while thinking about the definition of the keyword '_festival' _in her question.

"In Tanabata, one would write a wish to each other. They hang those wishes on a bamboo."

"What's a wish, woman?"

"Eh? Ah... A wish is kind like a feel of hope or desire for something to someone. People make a wish and hope it comes true."

"Nonsense. How can a feeling like wish come true on it own? If I have time to wish for my desire, I could do it by myself."

"Yeah, there are some cases like that. What I mean is sometimes we wish for something when we _could not be able to do it_ at all."

"And how could it come true?"

"Eh? Maybe there's a God guy could read those wishes and grant them for their sake."

"God? Someone is powerful like Aizen-sama?"

"Eh? No!! He would grant the wishes for people at his free choice, not by asking anything in return. And he's not like Aizen-sama."

_How could Ulquiorra link everyone to Aizen?_

"Hm..."

Ulquiorra thought there was no way they had a ridiculous God guy like that in the world. But he kept his thought to himself.

Sometimes Ulquiorra wondered if Orihime was an alien who was living outside the Earth or not because her fantasy and the reality were totally different on a whole level.

"So Ulquiorra, if you could make a wish, what wish do you make?"

_So sudden, this girl always asked him something unexpected._

Ulquiorra kept silent for a long moment. So long, that Orihime had to called out his name one more time to wake him up from his silent thought.

"Ulquiorra!?"

"How about you?" He decided to lead this 'wish' topic toward her. At least, he could use hers for an example of what a wish was.

But her answer turned out not exactly good for him to base on.

"Eh? Me? I have a lot of wishes in the past... let's see I want to eat a whole ice-cream shop, I also want to eat a whole donut and cake shop, I want to travel around the world, I want to make friend with Walt Disney, I want to have wings to fly in the sky..."

Ulquiorra's eyes widened in surprise one more for her sudden blabbing.

_Didn't she just ask his only one wish? _

Well at least he could grant her last wish.

"But right now, all I could wish for is '_everyone could be happy_'."

"That would be impossible." His voice sounded as cold as he could.

He did that every time he said the truth of what he thought inside to her.

Orihime smiled, a silly smile although her eyes didn't smile at all, "I know."

Upon catching at that sight, Ulquiorra turned his head to her and asked.

"What about me?"

"Eh?"

Orihime looked straight at him confusing at his question.

"What wish do you want to make for me?" He explained his question once more.

Now it was her turn to surprise because she didn't expect Ulquiorra would ask her that question.

His eyes though as emotionless as usual seemed like pleading for her answer too.

"If possible, I wish I could stay with you for a long time." She replied with a small smile.

Her face was loosen to the most gentle and happy expression that he had ever seen of her while her cheek was blessed with the color of cherry blossom.

If no one knew about what her current circumstance was in Hueco Mundo, they would never guess that she was a hostage and a prisoner here.

Ever since she got herself to here...

At this monochrome cage, she used her smile as much as she could so that she could to convince herself that she was still fine, that everything was still fine, to the point that Ulquiorra couldn't be help but staring her in the surface while showing his respect for her inside.

_What a strong woman!_

"I see." He said with his voice and face as dead-pan as usual.

After that, he said nothing but held a woman beside him tightly in his arm.

_You don't have to wish for that because I will make it come true._

A wish was a nonsense thing.

Because in his vast knowledge and experience, there was no one could be able to grant his wish. Not even God. Not even Aizen-sama.

If a wish was for impossible thing, then there was the only one impossible thing in his mind that he wasn't sure if he could be able to do it.

He murmured.

_"I just wish that you could always smile like that for me."_

* * *

**JinxJen's note:**

Hi everyone, this is my 2nd oneshot or just a drabble or whatever you called it.

While I think I'm good at making dialogue, I'm not good at using words for narration and description after all.

So I think maybe from now on, most of my drabble fics will start from dialouge first and then I would update the narration later.

This story was made from a question I had at UlquiHime FC in BA. I really like Ulquiorra's thought about what a wish is.


	3. Harmonica

Thanks for reading this story!

The 3rd story was inspired when I was listenning to Bleach Radio B Station for the interview between Ulquiorra's seiyuu and Orihime's seiyuu.

Disclaimers: I do not own Bleach and their characters (definitely); they are all masterpieces from Kubo-sensei~

I also randomly used _italic word_ to describe the thought of the characters or maybe it just some strong feeling of characters I want to put in to that word.

* * *

**HARMONICA**

In front of the white marble door, Ulquiorra suddenly heard a strange sound coming from Orihime's cell.

_What was that distrurbing sound? _

_Was that a song? It didn't sound like the woman's voice. _

_Was that from an instrument? But there was nothing like that in Las Noches._

Upon hearing the sound, Ulquiorra silently pushed the hard door and got inside.

The woman, whose back was facing him and face was facing the moon upon the window's cage, was still busy in doing _something_.

She hadn't realized his presence until he made his announcement.

"What's this sound, woman?"

She was startled by his voice. She suddenly turned her head around and said with her bewildered voice.

Her face was a bit flushed. _Was she embarrassed?_

"AHH, Ulquiorra, since when...?"

_The sound stopped._

"Just now, you should have used to it already. Are you the one who made this disturbing sound?"

"Yes. I'm sorry, because I'm bored and there's nothing to do besides..."

"How can you make a sound like this?" Ulquiorra cut down before she could finish her sentence.

There was _something_ she hid behind her back.

"EH? Ah... By this."

She put the _foreign object_ forward toward him and didn't explain anything as if it was natural.

"What's this?"

Ulquiorra asked and stared at a strange white rectangular-shaped thing with a lot of holes inside in Orihime's hand...

"It is a harmonica. Ulquiorra, you didn't know it!"

"There's no thing called like that in Las Noches."

"Do you want to play?"

For that question, Ulquiorra's eyes were widened in surprise though his face was still emotionless.

He still stared at her when she showed Ulquiorra the rectangular tube.

Finally, he asked, doubtfully, "How do I play it?"

"You put that near your lip and blow air into it over the holes. And then your fingers will tip and tap some holes. The pressure will cause them vibrate up and down and create a sound. Just like this."

Orihime demonstrated how to play to Ulquiorra, but the sound she made was awkwardly odd to hear. The tune was off, it seemed.

"I know that I'm not good at playing, but at least I could hear some sound from this or else I would go insane to stay in this quiet place."

"Where did you get this?"

"Eh, I brought them from my home. I think I could at least play a nice song for Aizen-sama and he would let me go back."

_Naivety. _Ulquiorra thought.

_How far could her vivid imagination go? _

_I doubt that disturbing sound she created would only make Aizen-sama keep her inside more, rather than let her go outside. _

_Still, I would keep that thought inside._

"So Ulquiorra, how about you play it for me?"

Ulquiorra's eyes widen one more. Why did this woman always ask him something unbelievable?

_I, Cuatro Espada, played music. __If Grimmjow knew, he would laugh until his stomach fell out. Ah, it was already a hole anyway._

"I'm not your musician, woman. And I'm not here to entertain you."

"Are you afraid that you would make a bad sound?"

_What? There was no way I would be afraid of something disturbing like that. Who did she think I was?_

Provoked by an innocent Orihime, Ulquiorra grabbed the harmonica and put it near his lips awkwardly. Oddly, the sound he made turned out pretty nice to hear.

"UWUA! Ulquiorra, you're so good. It sounds nice to hear. You have a talent. You must be a musician in your human life."

Orihime's eyes became bigger as she was full of surprise and happy to hear a nice song coming from Ulquiorra and her harmonica.

On the other side, Ulquiorra was struck by a smile as bright as the sun she made when he played the instrument.

_Maybe harmonica wasn't bad after all._

* * *

**JinxJen's note:**

I was using dialouges as usual. Though there are some narrator lines too.

In that interview, Orihime's seiyuu who was in her character told Ichigo's seiyuu that she was going to Ulquiorra XD I was laughing out loud at their shippy.

And Ichigo's seiyuu told her that she should bring a harmonica because there was nothing to do in Las Noches and Orihime's seiyuu took his advise.

So that's why the story became like that. It was so fun to image how Ulquiorra plays harmonica.


	4. Tear

Thank for reading this story!

Even though I rated those story as Rate T, I hadn't even gotten myself into any smutty scenes yet.

I'm still an amatuer and I still practising. So for now, I just leave it to your imagination for what Ulquiorra would do next. Innocence didn't really have much effect in my dictionary.

Disclaimers: I do not own Bleach and their characters (definitely); they are all masterpieces from Kubo-sensei~

I used _italic word_ to describe the thought of the characters or maybe it just some strong feeling of characters I want to put in to that word.

* * *

**TEAR**

"Ulquiorra. Have you ever cried before?"

The question came out of no where.

Well, he at least had already expected all kind of her bizarre questions as much as he did when this woman suddenly asked for his company every night.

But still, he was surprised every time she asked him odd questions that had never ever occurred in his hollow life at all.

His eyes opened widely for a moment and then returned to normal emotionless state. He tried to search for an answer that could make sense to her.

"We hollows don't cry, woman." He said with his cold voice.

Indeed, hollows didn't cry. He had never seen any crying hollows before.

Crying was weakness. While hollows continuously seek for stronger power, they didn't need such weak and useless ability like crying.

Even Ulquiorra hadn't ever shed tears before. He believed there was nothing called human's fluid flowing inside his body.

He, Ulquiorra Cifer, Cuatro Espada, didn't have any tears or blood. They had already dried up for a long time as much as he could remember.

The only things left were the tear marks from his face and blood mark from his chest when he returned to his true form.

Crying was what made human "human". And he wasn't a human. That was the only thing he was sure about.

If there was anything like liquid coming from the eyes, it was just a product of a process of cleaning those eyes.

Starrk usually had that every time he woke up. And in each every time he also had to use his hands to wipe those eyes because there was too little water to clean it.

Yet the woman he was in charge right now had too much water in her eyes.

That was why he _hated_ that. He hated every time he saw the woman crying.

Even when he didn't see, he also hated the sound of her sobbing.

Because no matter what he did, he couldn't stop her tear from flowing. From normal talking to the point of threatening seemed useless to that woman's tears.

In once time that he caught her crying while still talking and facing her back to him. And everything went downhill since then at that time.

He could only be still just like a wall for that woman to lean on. And every time she did that, he swore that he could feel his tear marks were going to burn under his hard skin along with her tears.

He kept wondering what this woman did to him. _Why did her tears keep bothering him?_

And the fact that he realized that he was bothered irked him. He didn't have any answer for that question.

Once time in the woman's room, his curiosity got him and made him speak his thought out loud.

"Why do you humans like to shed tears for nonsense things? What's the purpose for that?"

"I cry because I feel sad."

"I don't understand. Why do you have to feel sad?"

"If people I love got hurt and might die, I will be sad. And so I'm here crying for them."

"Crying won't help them alive." His words voiced out just like cold water pouring down to her.

Orihime expressed a face that she understood thoroughly his words. But still for some reasons, she wanted to express herself by crying out loud rather than keeping it inside her every time he was standing in front of her.

She thought that she was just like a glass which had been already broken in some way. All of her tears that she had hold up until now just kept reacting occurring to his cold and harsh words.

She knew that he was saying the truth. And she knew that his truth was hurtful to her to the point that the glass inside her started to crack bits by bits and the water holding inside kept leaking out until it completely flew out of control and dried off.

He kept getting on her nerve, but she still couldn't resist everything that he said. For some reason, his company with her every night had become a routine for both.

She expressed what she really thought in her mind to him to the point of shamelessly crying in front of him. So did him.

Although his words were still as cold as ever, at least he didn't ignore her.

He answered all of the questions that she asked him despite how odd and strange they sounded in his own way.

Since when did she become like that every time she was with him?

"Then, it's just…"

"Just…?"

"… It's just a way that I can say goodbye to them or support myself. If I smile while crying then it would mean that I accept the fact that they are leaving and hope they would have their happiness in the other world. If I don't smile while crying then it only means that I don't want they go away."

"Then what about that shinigami?" _Didn't you both cry and smile for him?_

_If you didn't want to separate from him, you should not react like that with him at all. Because that would mean you just willingly sacrifice yourself here._

_Foolish woman._

"Eh? What do you mean?"

Among all of the things he had said, what hurt her most was probably when he talked about her nakama, especially about _her_ Kurosaki-kun.

At first, it was just the confirmation for her feeling with them.

Later, he was more suggestive to come up any scenarios from bad to worst about them and asked for her feeling for those terrible scenarios without any consideration about her thought inside at all.

_What an insensible man_.

"Your nakama. If you know that they are going to die later, would you still shed tear for them?"

It was a silly question that he had ever asked her because he was sure of what her answer would be.

But she still kept surprising him when her answer was a bit different than what he would expect. Even if there was a bit of hesitation in her eyes, she didn't cry this time.

"I don't know. I don't want any of them die." After she said that sentence, she turned her head away and didn't look at him.

Ulquiorra looked at her body trembling.

One of her hand curled up like a fist while the other held off the arm of that fist, just like she was trying to keep something inside her from bursting out.

Strangely, he knew what "something" inside her was.

He thought that she was a strong woman.

But this woman kept hiding the fact that she was strong in front of others and even didn't realize that.

And here at that time now, he wanted her to let it out in front of him, rather than secretly in other place that he didn't know.

Because every time she did that, she didn't eat any food at all.

After all, he was in charge of her well-being, according to Aizen-sama's order, of course.

If she kept refusing everything that he offered her, then it would only mean that he failed his mission. That would suffer for both of them.

"If they were stupid enough to come there without considering their own strength, they would meet their death sooner or later."

Indeed, if they came here and challenged him without knowing their own strength which was inferior to his, he would label them as "trash" and "stupid."

And as long as he let them go back by their own without killing them, then that woman didn't have to shed any useless tear anymore.

Because surely at that time, he would tell her that her nakama had already abandoned her, so stop crying anymore.

Ulquiorra really hated her tears, and he hated more if her tears were shed for that weak and ignorant shinigami trash which never had any thought about her at all.

But still he couldn't be help to fascinate about everything she did, even crying.

She was usually exhausted herself by crying too much for a day.

After she extracted all of her tears at once time, she would become weak, small, and helpless, fainting and falling asleep in his arms.

Only when that time came, Ulquiorra realized that he really treasured this silent time in her room.

The only silent time that he could fully observe his woman without making her cry or angry at him.

* * *

**JinxJen's note:**

Argh, I was crying when I wrote this story. As for the reasons, I don't really know myself. I guess I let too much sentiment got to my head.

Orihime's timid character was one of the points that made her beautiful and I really don't want her to discard that trait.

So I wrote this oneshot about her tear and Ulquiorra's thought about that.

Maybe there were a lot of mix feeling for both like and dislike. But overall, I would prefer her crying more, but still standing strong. I think I was on the way to become S here. He he.


	5. Drunk

Thanks for reading this story!

This fic was inspired from a question from BA: _How would Ulquiorra act if he got drunk?_

Warning: K alert! Beware the drunk man.

Disclaimers: I do not own Bleach and their characters (definitely); they are all masterpieces from Kubo-sensei~

I used _italic word_ to describe the thought of the characters or maybe it just some strong feeling of characters I want to put in to that word.

* * *

**DRUNK**

In Las Noches, Hueco Mundo, the usual meeting between Aizen-sama and the Espada was hold.

Aizen-sama ordered a drinking contest between the Espadas according Gin's request to have some fun.

The one who lost would spill in the beans his utmost shameless secret to Aizen-sama.

Grimmjow and Nnoitra took it as a good opportunity to challenge the Cuatro Espada.

Nnoitra wasn't once in the time called "The strongest Hierro Espada" for nothing. He could handle liquor well because his stomach was as hard as his skin.

Meanwhile, Grimmjow who already had a hole in his stomach also did well in holding the liquor so that others could only wonder where all of the liquor went anyway.

And they believed that Ulquiorra had never ever touched any kind of liquor before. So of course, they were sure that they could win this contest and put Ulquiorra to shame.

Ulquiorra at that time kept his thought to himself that this contest was meaningless and those who organized and participated in it were also meaningless.

Although he had never tasted something like liquor, he was sure it was just as bad as human soul.

Maybe it wasn't worse than Aizen-sama's tea which was the most distasteful thing that he had ever drunk.

In the drinking contest, Ulquiorra kept choking down all of purely made Tequila shots (about 10) with the amazement of other Espada audience.

Meanwhile, Nnoitra who was proud at his iron stomach before couldn't take anymore of 5 shots. His spoon was already bended down to the other side of his head.

Grimmjow wasn't got any better with 6 shots. He just kept on cursing about what kind of the sicky bastard that put cat nip into the drink.

In the end, it was only the showdown between Ulquiorra, the Cuatro Espada, and Starrk, the Primera Esapada.

Starrk was so amazing. He just drank and slept and then drank again without getting any drunk at all.

At the same rate, Ulquiorra's face also didn't change anything from color to his expression. He just looked bored while keep holding and drinking the next shot.

At the 12th shot, Starrk gave up because he felt sleepy now, so Ulquiorra won by default.

After everybody was dismissed, Ulquiorra took a bow to Aizen and left.

* * *

"So in the end, Ulquiorra didn't get drunk at all." Gin said with his utmost disappointment. Meanwhile, Aizen chuckled at him.

"You don't realize it huh, Gin?"

"Realize what?" Gin hissed his voice to ask the question.

"The way that Ulquiorra took didn't lead to his room." Aizen pointed his finger the the direction that Ulquiorra had left.

"Ah!" Gin's smirk became wider when he followed the sight of Aizen's pointing.

"It seemed that he was dead drunk so he didn't know any direction anymore. I wonder where he would end up tomorrow." Aizen smirked.

* * *

Lately in Orihime's cell, Orihime who was lying on the couch pretty much awoke. She still tossed about everything sleeplessly.

Suddenly she heard a crackle sound of something opening her cell's door and dropping down on the floor. She got up and walked toward to figure out what caused that.

Her room was usually dark, but the moonlight from the window was enough for her to confirm what thing collapsed in front of her cell's door.

It's Ulquiorra.

_Why did he suddenly come to her room in the middle of night?_ (She totally ignored the fact that it was always _night_ in Hueco Mundo)

_And why did he collapse here? Did he get hurt anywhere?_

"Ulquiorra!" Her voice yelled as loud as it could. "What's wr-" Before she could speak any more word, a pale hand covered her mouth up.

"Be quiet, woman! Or everybody will come here." Ulquiorra said with an odd emotion in his voice. It's not emotionless as usual. His voice seemed to have a little bit hastiness in it.

Orihime smelled the smell of liquor coming from his body.

"Ulquiorra. Don't tell me... Are you _really_ drunk?"

Orihime held Ulquiorra up to the couch so that he could lie down comfortably.

"Hm... I guess I can't hide it from you." Although his face was still the same, but his eyes had already looked somewhere far away.

"If you're dead drunk like this, anyone would be able to tell right away." Orihime scold him aggressively. Her voice went a little bit louder.

"Like I said, be quiet, woman. We just had a drinking contest, and Aizen-sama said that I can go back if I won." This was not his usual monotone voice.

Orihime had never heard such soft voice like that ever came from his mouth although the words he said didn't have any bits softy in them.

"Drinking contest?" Orihime raised her eyebrows.

"I'm so ashamed. I had never thought that such human's liquor could affect my body heavily like that." He closed his eyes to resist the dizziness in his head.

But it didn't help at all. He was panting heavily. His eyelids felt really heavy.

Orihime believed that if his skin were in normal color, he would have turned green and gray with that kind of amount liquor.

She ran to her dining table to make a water glass for him to drink. She used one hand to hold him up while another to hold the glass near his mouth.

But Ulquiorra didn't drink any bit, he kept coughing.

"...Ulquiorra..."

What should she do?

In the middle of the night, she couldn't run out and call for any help right? She doubted if there would be anyone that could help her anyway.

She needed to remind herself that she was alone here in Hueco Mundo.

Although it was Ulquiorra who abducted her, he also the one who took care of her and kept her company all the time.

What should she do? Should she do it? She had no choice.

Because there was a person (_was he considered as a person?_) who was lying and almost dead by too much alcohol consuming here.

Consequence might come later. She would apologize to him later.

Orihime put all of the water from the glass into her mouth and kissed... no... transferred them to Ulquiorra's mouth. Ulquiorra whose eyes were still dizzy suddenly got back to normal state of shock due to her action.

Fortunately, the water finally got down to his throat. Orihime smiled of relief that he finally got his water.

She raised her head up and caught another strange gaze from Ulquiorra below her.

For some reasons that he looked pretty much human while he was in sober state. Reflecting by the moonlight, by looking from above, he looked _mysteriously_ handsome.

Her heart suddenly skipped a beat.

His hand reached up to her head and pulled her closer to him.

"I want more..." His voice sounded so soft and gentle to her ear. He brought her lips to his.

Orihime was still in the state that she couldn't comprehend the situation.

_Was he still drunk?_

By the time she registered in her mind that he was kissing her, she closed her eyes and reluctantly accepted that.

_Because it looked like that he wanted more water, so... But I couldn't drink it before I give to him and this feels so good..._

The kiss took a few minutes, yet Orihime felt that it lasted for hours.

By the time they pulled away, Orihime was still panting and blushing. Her eyes kept locking and gazing on Ulquiorra's eyes below.

Then he suddenly blinked and sweated. He made some silent noise in his voice that Orihime couldn't hear.

His eyelids slowly closed and he fell asleep on the couch. His hand was still warping around her body.

_He got himself drunk and then fell asleep during the kissing. What a strange man. _

Orihime was surprised at his action and chuckled.

After she was satisfied enough to look at Ulquiorra's sleeping face, she got herself back to the current situation.

Her final concern was where she would sleep now because the only one couch in the room was occupied by Ulquiorra.

And she really didn't want to sleep on the hard floor at all.

But sleeping on Ulquiorra's chest was not really _bad_.

It was his fault anyway.

She wondered what his reaction would be for tomorrow. It would be fun to see right?

* * *

**JinxJen's note:**

Hope you enjoy the chapter as much as I do.

If you think Ulquiorra in this chapter was OCC then I can only blame on the drink.

I intent to make it a humour/crack fic, yet when I started to write it somehow turned into romance here.

If anybody would like to see the sequel of what would happen tomorrow when Ulquiorra woke up, just give me a review message that you want to know and I will take time to write about it. So for now, I will let it to your imagination.


	6. Meaning

Thanks for reading this story!

This fic was done for the theme Life/Living for "Theme Of The Week" over at the UH FC on BA.

It's a future fic, happened after chapter 353/354.

Disclaimers: I do not own Bleach and their characters (definitely); they are all masterpieces from Kubo-sensei~

* * *

**MEANING**

"Ulquiorra-san, why is your aspect _Nihilist_?"

Inoue Orihime asked while stepping softly and steadily on the platform of the staircase.

And that took Ulquiorra Cifer a moment of surprise revealing in his eyes before they returned to his normal indifference. It was unsure whether Ulquiorra was surprised of her sudden question about his aspect of death or the fact that Orihime suddenly added the _"-san"_ in his name that made him ponder her intention of calling his name in a polite and formal way like that.

"_Because_," he replied with a halt, "I found no meaning in _it_."

"_It_?" Orihime puzzled what Ulquiorra meant.

"The world that we existed in." He stated in his monotone voice.

The confusion still presented in her eyes. "You mean this world or Hueco Mundo?" Orihime questioned.

"All." Ulquiorra answered, fixing her gaze.

"That's not true." Orihime cut short. Her voice was usually soft, but there was firmness in her tone.

"Not true?" Ulquiorra glanced back at the girl curiously of what she meant.

Orihime looked deep into his eyes. While casting her eyes down, she whispered with her softer voice. "That's… just sad, Ulquiorra-san."

This time, he was perplexed at her statement, "Sad?" And he couldn't stop his curiosity to flow out from his mouth. His ability to control his pace and silence was weaken and worsen day by day.

"Do you find any meaning in our world?"

Ulquiorra's question seemed to make Orihime troubled, "I..."

As if she couldn't find the right answer for his question. Or maybe she already had answer, but refused to accept it.

"There's none."He continued his enlightenment, "You're saying that because you think that you're living. It's your illusion that you think that you would find any meaning."

"I'm not." Orihime replied. Unlike the last time that she was so unsure, this time, she was adamant in her words. "You're also _living_, Ulquiorra-san." And her confidence into something that he couldn't see it logical made him want to argue with her once more.

"Woman, you're wrong. I'm not living. I'm already dead."

From the beginning to the end, he was always dead to her. She had seen his death already, enough to accept it. Why did she still insist that he was _living_? Were there any meanings left to him for being alive in the dead world? What did she mean to him by "living"?

"Just your body on earth." Orihime came closer, gently placing her palm on the plane of his chest. The place where his hollow hole had been filled in with everything happened between them. "Your soul and your heart, however, are not."

"Hollows don't have heart, woman." Closing his eyes in contented, Ulquiorra placed his hand on hers that still lay on his chest.

He was being contradictory. He knew that. Even though in reality, seeing the heart to understand its form and having the heart to live with it are different matters.

As a Hollow… an ex-Hollow, Ulquiorra didn't know how to adjust with the new form that this heart had given to him.

As a Hollow, he had never thought anything about how he would live with this new life. Just as how he believed that Hollows didn't have heart before.

"I believe they do." Orihime smiled.

Ulquiorra reminded that it was the same smile when she talked about the heart she shared with her nakama.

Did she mean for hearts to beat as one? The heart of her and _his_?

Because of the heart, she's alive; that's why he's also _living_!

In the distant of Ulquiorra's mind, part of him acknowledged that it might be true while the other part shivered at such thought.

It took the next second for him to realize that he loose his hand on hers and Orihime retracted her hand from his chest.

"I've seen Hollows that had heart before; it's just they hadn't tried to see by their own." Orihime continued. She gazed at Ulquiorra and smiled very innocently, "You're not the first one."

"Who's the first?" Ulquiorra asked, out of his curiosity and perplex.

"My... My brother." Orihime replied. Since that moment, her eyes went sad, looking in distant, "To me, he was everything in my life. But then, he died on the day I had an argument with him. I thought that life had collapsed and turned its back on me back then."

Ulquiorra noticed that her small fingers had curled into fist in one hand while another held on.

"I had wondered why I couldn't save him on that day. Why couldn't I try to accept his feeling? Why did I make him sad and died in regret? So much that he turned into Hollow." Orihime said with the regretful tone he had heard so many time when she blaming herself.

While walking together step by step on the stairway, Orihime told Ulquiorra the past between her and her brother and how he ended up as Hollow. He had to omit all of irrelevant details such as bread's jam with peanut butter, jelly leek with red bean paste and tomato pasta with rainbow unicorn that she randomly inserted to get the story.

"He attacked you?" Ulquiorra interrupted her storytelling.

"Yes, he was angry with Kurosaki-kun, so he wanted me dead so that we could be together in afterlife. In that moment, I could only hug him tight. I thought it would be okay if he wanted to take me away from this world."

"It's foolish. You and your brother." While Ulquiorra somewhat could understand and relate what her brother would do, he still confused what Orihime had done with her brother. Setting himself in her shoes, he couldn't do the same thing like her. He thought it was foolish to humans for wanting to live and die for another. Yet, among those foolish things, he also did the same. That shinigami was right when he said he had become more human. Though all he felt at that time was more of anger than feeling of grateful that he changed.

"I know." Orihime said in a sad tone.

"So what happen to him in the end?" Ulquiorra asked.

"He's gone. He broke his Hollow mask with Kurosaki-kun's sword and then faded away. I don't know where he went. Maybe Soul Society. Maybe not. But, at last, he gave me his smile. He's not sad anymore. I think he had found the meaning of his life so he accepted his death peacefully."

Thoughtfully, Ulquiorra stared at Orihime, "You think that I will be end up like your brother?" He said in his sarcasm and dry humorous tone, "Finding life meaningful because I accepted death? Having the heart because I'm the hollow that takes interest in you?"

Occuring along with his words, Ulquiorra reached his hand and lightly touched her chest, the place where her soul chain placed, the same place as his hollow hole.

"I... I don't mean that way." Orihime flushed, shaking her head and her hands all together. Meanwhile, Ulquiorra was obvious of her embarrassing.

"Just as I thought, even if I spent another life with you, I understand you less. Even so..." Ulquiorra paused. His voice trailed off. "I don't want to part with you." Ulquiorra said with his tone softer than any tone Orihime had ever heard from him.

Far in her mind, she wondered if he was embarrassed. She didn't have time to smirk at his shyness before her faced was also slowly heated from peachy to reddish color when she understood his words.

"In the end, between death and life, I chose this path." Ulquiorra gripped one hand on his chest, eyes casting down, "This hopeless path so that I could see you once more." Then he moved his hand to brush her cheek gently.

Ulquiorra had never cared anything about life or death. All he desired was just to understand how she lightened up his meaningless life and how he would have her by his side. In the end, he chose to let her go. And as the result of his choice, he ended up to be by her side instead. It's probably the irony of life that the new heart had gotten him into.

Smiling gentle, Orihime reached her hand to hold his which was lazily sliding on his side. She entwined their fingers together and squeezed it softly. The action that they failed to do when they were at the dome.

"I'm glad that you're alive, Ulquiorra."

"Orihime, you're the only one that felt that way. To see me alive and living, that is."

"Then how do you feel?" Orihime asked and again Ulquiorra had to wonder the meaning of her strange question in regard of his feeling to something he wasn't aware of.

"How do you feel when you realize that you're alive and living?" She repeated.

"How does living mean to you, Orihime?" Ulquiorra asked back. For one reason, he didn't understand her term of "life" and "living" as much as he told her that he had been dead already.

"Living is hard, Ulquiorra." Orihime said, "We experienced both happy things and painful things. That's why everybody tried their best to be alive. We don't want to see any more of death and sadness."

"Thinking of life when we're already dead is so ridiculous." Ulquiorra shrugged off, talking in his different tone.

"Isn't that life all about?" Orihime laughed, feeling silly at Ulquiorra's words. "We meet, connect and separate. We reunite, reminisce our past and think about our next life." _Isn't it amazing?_ She wanted to add, but she felt that Ulquiorra would be annoyed at her silly and optimistic ideas of life.

"I see. You have too many lifetimes to live, woman." Ulquiorra sighed, turned his feet and made his way upstairs.

Glancing back at Orihime over his shoulder, she was standing still, not showing any reaction to move forward.

"I'm not sure that I would follow till your last one. So you'd better…" Ulquiorra's deep and low voice regained Orihime's attention. Leisurely with his standing stance, he reached his hand out. "Come with me, woman."

"Please accompany me, Ulquiorra-san." Orihime smiled, quickly caught up in step with Ulquiorra.

They continued to walk to the end of the staircase to see where it would lead their life up to.

Hand in hand.

Together.

* * *

**JinxJen's note:**

Because of the theme, there's a vagueness in the fic that I'm not sure if everyone get it or not.

When I read it again, it does sound like a heated debate of death and life between Orihime and Ulquiorra. And of course, we all know who was the winner.


	7. Jealousy

Thanks for reading this story!

This fic was done for the theme Jealousy for "Theme Of The Week" over at the UH FC on BA.

Summary: Ulquiorra was jealous at Orihime and he didn't care.

Disclaimers: I do not own Bleach and their characters (definitely); they are all masterpieces from Kubo-sensei~

I used _italic word_ to describe the monologue or thought of the characters or maybe it just some strong feeling of characters I want to put in to that word.

**

* * *

**

**JEALOUSY**

As the one who experienced death many times, Ulquiorra thought it was never a big deal to him, because meaningless engraved deep in his existence.

There was nothing beyond the death. Only emptiness.

The feeling of physical pain had been dull since long ago. However, another different kind of pain had just surfaced somewhere at the edge of his reason for being existed, ever since the time he met that woman. It was vexing, because he couldn't figure out the reason for why it could happen.

Never ever, Ulquiorra thought that he would be angry with himself nonetheless. How in the world that he let such thing happen in front of his grasp?

He would have taken her by force. He would have made her succumb under his true despair, terror at his deadly existence. But he failed, for such he realized that he could never be able to hurt her, both physically and emotionally.

There were two things in this world that he would never allow himself to act on her.

_One_ is to "_harm_ her".

And _two_ is to "_frighten_ her".

Never ever, Ulquiorra had felt such kind of helplessness when it came to this woman. For what was the cause of all his turmoil? Ulquiorra didn't know.

He couldn't understand.

He couldn't see anything.

His eyes existed to give him the truth. He believed in what they saw. What they didn't see didn't exist.

Yet for some reasons, that invisible and nonexistent thing just now threatened his existence. It was something that he couldn't fight against even if he had his powerful 2nd release. It was something that the woman in front of him could understand and see clearly, yet he could not.

He couldn't comprehend her rambling of the fictional object called _heart_ while making such content expression.

_What is it? Where is it? _

_If I rip the chest apart, will I see it? If I crack open the skull, will I see it?_

Ulquiorra didn't know. He had to figure out _by himself_, through him _- that shinigami trash_ -

This was the battle that he couldn't afford himself to lose against.

He_ had to win. _Against_ her._

He had to prove what the _heart_ brought only death and despair.

So the logic of the _heart_ that would be ceased from her mind, so that his existence would not be ceased from her thought.

* * *

He lost.

...

Utterly.

Ulquiorra, Cuatro Espada, - _hollow_ - was defeated by the same substitute shinigami _- human - _that was lost his heart and turned into hollow. How ironic.

"If I have beaten, my existence no longer holds meaning."

He had nothing to lose for, but _her_.

But he had already lost her, since the time he decided to kill the shinigami.

The pact that he held on himself for her had been broken by his own hands. He had harmed her in the most damaged way as ever. He had frightened her.

In his humiliate moment below the feet of the hollowfied Kurosaki Ichigo, when the cero above his head kept getting bigger and bigger, he realized that he didn't care anymore. Death was the only atonement that he could do for her right now. It had been better if he could somehow erase his existence, so that she wouldn't cry anymore.

It was always him who made her cry, wasn't he? Comfort her was the action that he would never be able to enforce properly. It had always been that way.

_Everything divided us_ since that day.

"Do it"

A-ah, it didn't matter anymore. He felt jealous at _her_. That's all.

He felt jealous at her being a human: stubbornly struggling to survive for herself, yet willingly sacrificing herself for others without a thought, foolishly beaming with hope in the midst of despair, yet easily falling in distress at the death of others, beautifully talking about the heart as if she could hold it in her hand, and happily donating it to those who needed. He felt jealous because he couldn't do the same thing as her, even when he tried to put himself in her shoes.

He felt jealous because such kind of human like her would never belong to him. He felt jealous because he didn't belong anywhere in this woman.

Neither in her body, her mind nor her heart.

Her body and her mind didn't belong to him. As she had put it, they belonged to Aizen-sama _deceitfully_.

Her heart didn't belong to him. As she had put it, it belonged to her friends - _her stupid trash of friends_ - and that orange-haired shinigami – _the trash of trash -_ that didn't believe in her and her heart at the first place.

"STOP, KUROSAKI-KUN!"

A shout from a familiar voice snapped him out from falling deep into the abyss of the ocean, bringing his consciousness back to the world of the night. By the time he realized with his mind, his body moved instinctively, already sonido-ed up to the hollow, already had lighting lance in his hand and going to cut off the horn, yet not the neck. As if there was another force somewhere besides his mind manipulating his own body.

Ulquiorra couldn't figure out his body function at that time right now, but all he knew that he _must_ stop whatever "Kurosaki-kun" was going to do.

He _must_ fulfill that anguish shout from her even if he had to sacrifice himself.

_I must stop it._

Strangely enough, even when he woke up from hollow slumber, the deeds he had done would not be erased. Never ever he had felt such burning sensation throughout his body. It wasn't even from the pain of his regeneration. It was hurt more tenfold.

The shinigami had fallen again, dead. The woman still ran toward the shinigami's side, crying for his lifeless body.

What should he do? He couldn't comfort her. Because he was the one who couldn't undo such action, harming and killing her friends. He didn't have right to be by her side anymore.

Ulquiorra turned away, trying to walk far away from her as much as possible. For the first time, he felt such regret and sadness for the things he had done. He didn't understand what caused him feeling like this. But the pain he felt creeping at the edge of his hollow hole wasn't an illusion, more so than the pain of losing his organs inside. It was as real as what he could see with his eyes.

_It must be my punishment._ Ulquiorra thought so when he heard his wing exploded and dissolved into ash.

For some reason, he felt strangely pleased because it only meant that his wishing for being erased from his meaningless existence had been granted. The pain had been dull once again. He felt nothing right now. There's no pain, no gain of anything. He just returned back to where he should belong, the ground, of dust and ash.

In that helpless moment when Ulquiorra thought that he couldn't be able to move any muscles of his body anymore, he casted his gaze on _her_, the familiar pure white figure with sunset hair that he had come to accustom with. How come? In this messy state of her body, she looked so _beautiful_ and _angelic_ to him.

_What a strange human, this woman._

"Are you afraid of me, woman?" Surprisingly, his hand lifted up along with his speech, reaching toward her. He didn't understand his action, but he didn't mind nor hate it. For the first time, he accepted whatever his body wanted to do. Because his mind wanted to do the same thing.

Or was it because of his _heart_?

"I'm not afraid." She was looking straight at him with her glistering tears on verge of flowing out from the corners, unleashing such choking voice toward him. Yet, there was a firm tone in it, just like the first time when he asked her whether she was afraid and she also replied the same thing.

_Strong._ The woman he had come to know was always like that. Her strong spirit was what he couldn't beat.

Though, at that time, he hoped that she could spare him from being too much stubborn about the heart. He didn't have it, and he was jealous. She had it, but she didn't get his feeling nor have the same feeling toward him.

But this time, he watched her face, heard her voice, felt her everything even if he couldn't touch her. When his vision started to blur, it shifted from her face to his ashen hand, to his blackened fingers, stretching out and moving closer to her body. At this moment, he saw another image moving closer. Her fingers, her hand, her body, everything of her were reaching toward him. Another different kind of sensation rushed throughout his body when it supposed to be dull long ago. It started from her hand to his hand which was already dissolved into ash, to his body was going to become one with the wind. It was the sensation that he couldn't dare to give out a name. Because it's as such mysterious as whatever it could be named.

What is _it_?

_I see._

_Thu- Thump._

* * *

Ulquiorra was always jealous at Orihime's tear. Because he couldn't cry.

His tear marks just showed off how fake he was. How sarcastic he was, to don on his facial mask in such expression as in crying while the man himself couldn't feel any emotion. That's why he was jealous because he would want to do nothing more but wiping off those tears from her face, yet couldn't bring himself to do it _everytime_. He couldn't cry. He couldn't understand why she cried.

When Ulquiorra opened his eyes, tear drops fell like rain on his facial mask, dripping and flowing like a small river down to his mouth.

_Salty._ He thought while tasting it.

His vision started to be clearer and clearer. It was always his eyes that could materialize first. _Seeing_ those existed and those didn't. Unfortunately, there was a red curtain hanging down, spraying all over his eyes, covering his vision for a moment. He wanted to lift it up to see the _sun_.

_His sun_.

When his mind was finally as light as a cloud, he started to feel his whole body.

_Strange. Why is it so heavy? _

He felt like a stone as if something had been structuralized inside him. Something very heavy to the point that he could felt it everywhere in every muscle of his body.

Regardless of the unfathomable weight of his body, he lifted his right hand up no less. Touching every curl of the red hair. Reaching up to the nape of the neck, to the hollow yet peachy cheek. His fingers moved toward the destination that was the corner of her eyes, to remove the salty liquid that kept falling off, with such tenderness. And then it lay there. His palm cupped completely in the plane her soft cheek.

_Warm. _For the first time, he finally felt her temperature and his slowly melding into one._ Just from one touch._

When the curtain had been lifted, he finally saw her face clearly now.

There were no spoken words, no specific movements. He only gazed her. She only gazed him.

During that moment, everything they wanted to say to each other had been conveyed through their eyes.

"_Ulquiorra" Woman_

"_You're back." I'm back._

Though, there was one thing he wanted her to know. One thing that he would proudly inform her. So that he could enjoy seeing her proudly reacting to his news.

"The heart. I found it."

Orihime widened her eyes for a second, but soften her gaze as if she understood what he meant.

She lifted up her hands to touch the back of his hand on her cheek. Finally, entwining their fingers together.

"Here. I see you, woman." Ulquiorra squeezed his grasp on her fingers slightly.

Though what he didn't expect next was a smile beaming from Orihime, _toward him_.

"Orihime. Call me Orihime." She said, gently. Finally, her tears were completely wiped off.

"_Orihime" _Whispering in an audible tone enough for her to hear, Ulquiorra closed his eyes, falling into sleep.

Unknowingly to him, the woman he had interest for dyed her face in another cherry blossom color while hearing him whispering her name.

Especially when she witnessed a slightly stretch in his lips as in _smiling_.

_He was jealous after all._

But he didn't care. He had it now.

_The heart_.

Her.

* * *

**JinxJen's note:**

This fic was written in Ulquiorra's POV in the events of chapter 353/354.

There were shattered thoughts somewhere when I wrote this fic for the theme, but thankfully, it had tied up in the end.


End file.
